Microsoft Exchange is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It is a dedicated network resource management program that uses transmission control protocols such as SMTP, IMAP, and POP to communicate with email clients. Exchange is responsible for sending and receiving emails to and from client computers. It is an enterprise-class collaboration product that focuses on sending, receiving, and storing email messages. Exchange Server provides several other collaboration features, like calendaring and tight integration with other Microsoft Office applications. Exchange Server is known for its high availability (HA) features, which ensure continued service in different outage scenarios, including single-server failures and data center outages.
A Microsoft Exchange account is a work or school email account that is running a Microsoft Exchange Server, or is using Microsoft 365 which uses Exchange Server to provide email. Exchange ActiveSync, MAPI/HTTP, and IMAP are methods for accessing your Exchange email, usually from a laptop, phone, or tablet. When you access or read your email, you arent actually downloading or storing email on your mobile device; instead, youre reading it from the Exchange Server.
Microsoft Exchange can be paired with any email client, though it is most commonly used in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook. Exchange is included in Microsoft Office 365 for Business, the company’s collaboration and productivity suite. Microsoft offers Exchange as a SaaS offering called Exchange Online, which is available as a standalone service and as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. End users connect to Exchange Online through the Outlook client or Outlook on the web.
In summary, Microsoft Exchange is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft that is used for sending, receiving, and storing email messages, as well as providing several other collaboration features. It is commonly used in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook and is included in Microsoft Office 365 for Business. Exchange can be accessed through various methods, including Exchange ActiveSync, MAPI/HTTP, and IMAP.
